*Angel Grove 1996, Mid Afternoon at the Youth Center.
Three men walked through the door. Two of them hung back, as the other approached the Juice Bar counter. Ernie noticed the man and moved over to him. "Hi there, what can I get you?"
"Actually I have a question for you. My name is Detective Jim Lane of the L.A.P.D.," Jim flashed his badge, "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."
"Yeah, sure. Ask away." Ernie said trying to sound unshaken, but in reality he was a little nervous. Cops from LA in Angel Grove? This must be serious he thought. Sensing Ernie's hesitation, the detective smiled reassuringly and nodded. "I am actually wondering if you could help me find someone, well two someones actually. Do you possibly know where I could find a..." Jim looked down at a piece of paper, "..a Jason or a Tommy?"
Ernie leaned on the counter a bit, "Well we get a lot of kids that come through here, what are their last names, maybe I can help you narrow down when they might come around?"
"Unfortunately we don't have their last names. I know it would make this easier," Jim said. "If we did, I wouldn't have had to come all the way down here and play where's waldo. All we got is two names: Jason and Tommy and the name of this place." He sequestered around the youth center.
"They aren't in any trouble are they?" Ernie asked concerned.
"I couldn't tell you at this point. I'll know more once I've spoken to them." He raised an eyebrow at Ernie. "Do you know where they are?"
Ernie sighed and thought a bit, he hoped that he wasn't making a mistake. "Well, based on the information you got I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you are looking for both Jason and Tommy together, not one or the other right?" Detective Lane shrugged his shoulders, and gestured for Ernie to continue. "Well in that case you're probably looking for Jason Scott and Tommy Oliver." Jim quickly wrote the names down on his pad. "Jason and Tommy," Ernie continued, "are two of the teens that hang out here on a regular basis. They teach a kids martial arts class together, best friends. They're the only Tommy and Jason I know who would be associated with each other."
Taking notes Jim had one more question. "You said they teach a class here? What time is that at?" Jim asked.
Ernie looked back, "At 4 o'clock, but if you want to talk to them now, they're over there on the mat working out." Ernie pointed to the lower level below the juice bar. Detective Lane turned his head to follow the direction Ernie was pointing.
"Thank you for your help sir," he said turning back to face Ernie.
"Hey no problem," Ernie said.
Jim walked away from the counter, and nodded towards his companions to follow him. He walked down to where the two youths were sparing. They had impressive martial arts skill, for their age, he thought, hoping he wouldn't have to test his own skills against theirs.
He approached the two youths, "Excuse me," he said getting their attention, "Jason, Tommy?"
"Yeah, I'm Jason." "I'm Tommy," they said almost in unison.
"I'm Detective Jim Lane, LAPD." Once again he flashed his badge. "I was wondering if I might have a word with you gentlemen for a moment?"
The two other men who had entered with Jim walked around the mat, adjacent to the two youths. Tommy and Jason noticed them and gave each other slightly worried looks. "W-what's this about detective?" Tommy asked glancing sideways at the other men.
"Please, come take a seat." Jim motioned to a nearby table. Tommy and Jason followed hesitantly and sat down at the table. The two youths were obviously nervous, but Jim, couldn't tell if it was the normal nervousness that people feel when approached by a police officer or something else. That annoyed him. He tried to calm himself down. He really hadn't wanted to come, but it was his case. He couldn't really have asked or trusted an underling to follow up on this "lead.," if you could call it that.
"So what's this about detective?" Jason asked.
"I'm following up on a lead for a case I'm working on and it appears that the two of you are connected to it somehow." At that revelation Tommy and Jason exchanged nervous glances, each testing to see if the other had any idea what this might be about. Years of reading people told Jim these boys were hiding something, but after non-verbally checking with each other, they were genuinely confused about what this could possibly be about. He cleared his throat and began to explain the situation.
"Two days ago a Jane Doe was admitted to the LA community hospital. She was obviously the victim of a series of violent crimes. She had no form of identification and doesn't show up in any of the police databases. The only thing she had on her was this..." Jim slid a dirty, crumpled piece of paper across the table. The two boys were startled to see their names and Angel Grove Youth Center scribbled on it. Jim continued, "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure that you're the Jason and Tommy we're looking for, but we don't have much to go on."
"So how can we help you?" asked Tommy.
"Do you think it's someone we might know?" Jason chimed in.
"At this point I really don't know, to tell you the truth. The obvious first step is to see if anyone can identify her, and then any information she or her family can give us that will help us with this case. Since she had your names on her, we presume that she knows you."
Tommy looked at Jason and then back to Jim. "Well, we'd be happy to help anyway we can," he said a little concerned, "What does she look like?"
"Well, physically, she looks to be about in her early 30s. Vibrant dark blue eyes. About medium height and of a slender build. The one odd thing is that for her age she has relatively long white hair, but the doctors determined that she doesn't suffer from albinism and the coloring is natural. You wouldn't happen to know any young women with white hair would you?" The expressions on the boys' faces changed and they looked hesitantly at each other, both trying to hide looks of surprise. From their reactions Jim knew that he had struck a chord. They knew her.
"She regained consciousness yesterday morning, but isn't speaking to anyone. She still seems to be disoriented. When asked about the piece of paper, she seemed like she wanted to talk, but only pointed to your names."
Jim leaned back in his chair. "Does that mean anything to you by any chance?" He asked cautiously.
The boys looked at each other again. Tommy nodded and Jason spoke up, leaning forward over the table, turning to face Jim. "We knew someone, a few years ago that fit that description." He paused. He was considering his next words carefully. He held Jim's discerning gaze, "What do you need from us?"
Detective Lane led Tommy and Jason though the hospital halls. They boys had agreed to follow him all the way to LA to see if this girl was someone they knew or not. He was pleased that it had been a relatively easy meeting and there was no conflict, but despite their co-cooperativeness, something was still nagging at him. He stopped just outside of the door to the girl's room. It was a single occupancy room, with one door that had a small window in it. A police officer stood guard outside the door. Jim stopped and turned to face the two teens.
"Now I have to warn you, she still has some of the bruises and cuts from the attack, so," he paused, "I just want you to be prepared."
"When you say "attack," Jason spoke up hesitantly. "You, you mean," he paused not meeting Detective Lane's eyes. He couldn't seem to finish the sentence. Jim felt sorry for the kid. Angel Grove was very different from LA. These kids had probably led a very sheltered life, he thought.
"Yes son. I'm afraid there is evidence she was raped. That's how I caught this case. We've been following a series of these types of attacks that have occurred within the last few weeks. And they all end with the victims being left outside the hospital, usually unconscious. So far we haven't been able to get any leads. Of course our priority is to find out who these women are and get them back to their families. If we can do that for her, then we'd appreciate any information she could give us about the attack."
Both boys looked sad and uncomfortable. He hadn't meant to lay it all out there and freak them out. He ran his hand through his hair. This case had been a hard one, and he hadn't been sleeping well ever since it came across his desk.
"I'm sorry, but you had to know the truth. If she is a friend of yours, you need to know that emotionally she is probably in a very fragile state, so just, be prepared okay?"
Both the boys straightened and nodded. Jim turned and heard one of them take a deep breath.
"I'll go in and see if she's awake. I'll let you know when/if it's okay for you to enter." Jim entered the room and closed the door. A few seconds later the door opened and he motioned for them to follow him, the second officer followed behind the two boys. Jim was sure to keep an eye on the young woman as the the two youths came into view, he was prepared for anything. He wasn't really worried that these two had had any part in her attack, but his years of training had him on edge. His nerves calmed however when he saw the smile appear on her face. Her whole demeanor changed. Her eyes lit up and she seemed to relax. Yes, it was apparent that she knew them, he had found the right guys. He looked at he boys, but they seemed confused still. The boy named Tommy had stopped and was staring intently at the woman in the bed. Jason, noticing her smiling at them, gave an awkward smile back. Detective Lane looked back at her, to find her eyes had moved to him.
She had to expend a lot of energy to get the next few words out. "Can I.." she caught her breath, "talk alone?" Jim smiled, but he did not like the sound of that. While it was a relief that he finally had someone to connect her to. Her particular case made the idea of leaving her alone in a room with people he didn't know, unnerving. Especially because of the way they were acting.
"Are you sure about this?" He glanced at the two youths then back to her. She had such a pleading look on her face, he just couldn't say no. "I'll be right out here if you need anything." He motioned to the officer to follow him out. The door shut.
Reenya watched him leave the room. She sat up a bit in the bed and tried not to wince too much at the pain. She had never had a broken arm before, it was all very disconcerting. She wanted to jump out of the bed and run to them, and drown her sorrows. Looking at them she felt her eyes start to tear, and she wiped them away. "Rangers." She managed to say softly. She had tried to say more but the words didn't come out. Tommy and Jason looked around nervously and moved closer to the bed.
"I'm sorry but how do you know who we are?" Jason asked. Reenya nodded and sat up some more. Of course last time they saw her she had looked like a teenager, and her face was different now. "Yes.." she said softly. Every word was a struggle to say. Placing her good hand on her chest she said, "Reenya."
They looked relieved and confused at the same time. She raised her hand to stop their questions. "Explain...later. Need...your help." The process of talking this way was exhausting. It would have been so much easier to mind speak with them. At the thought, she had to fight back the tears again. Reading the expression on Tommy's face, she knew what he was thinking. He was trying to use his gift, and not succeeding. She wished she could explain, tell them everything, but that would have to wait. She was so tired. She needed to get to the command center, she would be safe there.
"Let's go." She motioned for them to help her up. She winced through the pain that shot through her body.
She looked up as she heard the door open and Jim suddenly came into the room. "Is everything okay?" He asked and raised one eyebrow, looking at Reenya. The boys froze, they didn't know what to do, they had kinda forgotten that the police were involved with this. Jason regained himself quickly though and addressed Jim. "She wanted to get out of here, is that a problem?" Jim looked at her and she tried her best to look composed and defiant. He ultimately had no authority to keep her there, but he still had an investigation to complete, and now that she was able to communicate he had questions that needed answers.
He addressed Reenya. "I was hoping that maybe you could tell us something about who attacked you, anything that might help us in this case." She looked at the ground and tried to think, everything about the last few weeks was one big nightmare, she couldn't pin-point that one attack. Even if she could, she had no capacity to talk about it, she looked up at Detective Lane and shook her head. "Can't.." she said softly, and he nodded with understanding.
He didn't want to push. He knew how fragile victims of these crimes were. He turned to Jason, "When she is feeling better, should she remember anything at all, have her call me?" He pulled out a business card and handed it to Jason.
"Thanks." The teen said as he put the card in his pocket and proceeded to help Reenya sit up.
Tommy looked around. "Um...do you have any clothes or anything to put on?"